Manchester United midfielder Scott McTominay has revealed what Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told his team at half-time in their 2-1 victory over Tottenham.
United were unfortunate not to lead at the interval after Marcus Rashford’s opener was cancelled out by Dele Alli’s inventive effort.
McTominay was asked about United’s stunning first-half display and he revealed what Solskjaer had told the team after Alli’s sucker-punch.
“The manager reiterated that point,” McTominay told MUTV. “[He said:] ‘Some of the things that you were doing in that first half, some of the shots and stuff like that, with Marcus [Rashford] and Jesse [Lingard] and Mason [Greenwood] getting in pockets as well…’”
Rashford notched the game’s winning goal from the penalty spot after the break, and McTominay was quick to praise the 22-year-old, who has now scored 15 goals for club and country this season after his brace.
“Difficult? It’s impossible [to deal with him].” McTominay said. “Sometimes when you see some of the stuff that he’s doing there. It’s a breath of fresh air to watch a player who’s a young boy from Manchester coming up and doing some of the things that he’s doing… It’s a pleasure to watch and I just want to be a part of that as well.”
On his flourishing partnership with Fred at the base of United’s midfield, McTominay added: “He’s such a nice guy and we have that connection on the pitch whenever we do play together.
“Obviously it’s a pleasure to play alongside him and I feel like now we’re getting more and more of a connection and I think we can both see that in terms of the way that we’re using each other on the pitch.
“We want to keep that going, we want to get partnerships all over the pitch. Hopefully we can go to Man City and put in a performance and after that we’ll see where we’re at.”
McTominay voiced his support for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after a testing few days for United’s manager, saying the Norwegian has the full support of his players.
“There’s two managers down there who have represented this football club (Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho) and one currently is as well,” McTominay said.
“Obviously it’s our duty as players to go out and do our utmost best for him, because we love him as a group as well so hopefully we can start putting in the performances we’ve deserved.
“Some of the points we’ve missed out on this year have not represented the level of performance so hopefully we can keep pushing forward now as well.”
On his own return to the team after three games out with an ankle injury, McTominay said: “It was a pleasure to be a part of and pleasing to be back as well.”